HIGHLANDS — If he had his way, the business Ed Segall owned for more than 50 years and transformed into a fixture at Sandy Hook would still be open.

But the 86-year-old Segall, owner of the Sea Gulls’ Nest, was forced into retirement as the haggling with his insurance company, Lloyds of London, over damages from Hurricane Sandy has dragged on to this day.

Without about $2 million needed to repair the restaurant and the buildings that housed his concession businesses, one thing was clear: he couldn’t fulfill his contract with the National Park Service.

So without the ability to rebuild or reopen, Segall, known for putting on patriotic ceremonies as the summer sun set, quietly dissolved his contract with the National Park Service last year while the federal government pondered how to provide concessions at the popular park that attracts about 2 million visitors a year.

"That restaurant was unbelievable what it did for the public," said Segall, a Santa-like figure with a neatly cropped white beard and moustache, a smattering of white hair that has almost left the scene, and a paunch. "This was a place for middle America to live like the rich."

Segall, a Newark native, first opened concessions in the park in 1962, when the seven-mile-long peninsula was state property. The owner of a trucking business, he first operated the concessions out of trailers.

Sandy wasn’t the first storm to wipe out the buildings that housed Sandy Hook’s snack bar. Segall said the concrete buildings that eventually replaced his trailers were destroyed in a 1974 storm.

Patriotic Sunset Ceremony at Sandy Hook RestaurantEd Segall, owner of Sea Gulls' Nest Restaurant & Bar in Sandy Hook, knows how to conduct a memorable sunset ceremony for patrons. He honors men and women in uniform by asking his guests to stand and recognize those who serve, while singing Gob Bless America over the loud speaker. Video by Mike Roy / The Star-Ledger

The trailers came back until the National Park Service, which took over the park from the state, slowly began replacing them in 1991.

By 1996, the Sea Gulls’ Nest, which started as a small operation atop a mobile trailer in the 1980s, was perched on the new building, affording spectacular views of sunsets over Sandy Hook Bay.

But it was at the mobile restaurant where Segall started putting on his patriotic ceremonies 25 years ago, inviting veterans eating there to accept his public accolades for their service, capped by a recording of "God Bless America" — which also happens to be the ringtone on his cellphone. Police officers, firefighters and drug enforcement agents were also among those honored.

By the time he moved to the permanent building, sometimes a bagpipe player would perform. And sometimes there was Color Guard from the nearby Earle Naval Weapons Station.

Segall’s son Scott, 55, who works with his father, says that despite the $2 million in damage to equipment, the buildings are still structurally sound. When the storm hit, the Segalls were eight years into a 10-year contract that required them to pay for damage to the buildings and provide bathroom services and umbrella rentals at the six beach areas as well.

Segall’s daughter, Tina Cros, 53, said the Park Service offered them the chance to run food trucks, but the family decided against because they wouldn’t generate enough income to cover the costs of buying or renting the trucks and keeping the area clean.

Daphne Yun, a spokeswoman for the Park Service, confirmed the contract with Segall was dissolved, and said the food trucks that served the beaches last summer would return while the Park Service finds money to pay for the repairs.

Yun said she didn’t know when that would happen.

"We will continue to use food trucks because at this point it’s a more resilient way to deliver food services," she said. "That building is on the list for rehab."

The younger Segall said his family would definitely be interested in bidding on a new contract with the Park Service when the time came.

"It’s a location that was taken away from everybody," Cros said. "It’s such a gemsite that was taken away from everybody."

Her father’s patriotism runs deep because of the family’s history of military service. Segall’s father, a Romanian immigrant, served in World War I. Then Segall, one of nine children, and three of his brothers fought in World War II.

One brother, Seymour, was killed on Omaha Beach the first day of the invasion of Normandy, and Segall kept a framed photograph of him — now in the bedroom of his condominium in Long Branch — over the bar.

"People would come up to me with tears in their eyes," he said. "It grew to the point where we would attract thousands."